The last Eastern Band of Shawnee Tribe members left Ohio in the 1830s, and land treaties made with them ultimately were broken. But now the tribe has purchased 50 acres near Lewiston and it wants the Bureau of Indian Affairs to recognize the land as Indian Country. The tribe also claims to own 168 acres in the area, which it is trying to get back. Currently, there are no federally recognized tribes in Ohio.
Chief Glenna Walker of the Oklahoma-based tribe said, “Our situation is that land was taken. We signed a treaty for what was then our reservation, and we were to come here to Indian territory. The government took additional land rather than just the reservation, land that belonged to a private tribal member. We would love to be able to open the land for economic development like a casino. But getting the government to recognize our position and what happened is red tape upon red tape.”
Walker said if the BIA would recognize the tribe’s claim, “We’d like to see it become a destination resort, which would help make the Indian Lake region an attraction again, a go-to place for central and southwest Ohio.”
Shawnee members contend in 1831 the tribe signed a treaty with the government to cede their reservation in Ohio reservation and move to Oklahoma. However, Nancy Stewart, daughter of Chief blue Jacket, owned 168 acres adjacent to the reservation. She stayed there and passed away 1840 with no heirs. According to the treaty the land was supposed to revert to the tribe, but the government took it. The tribe is trying to reclaim that land and meanwhile purchased the 50 acres they want the BIA to recognize.
Jim Calim, a local attorney hired by the tribe to investigate the situation, found deeds in an old courthouse book that had not been opened for 150 years. “I found the best claim any tribe could ask for. It was blatant theft, in spite of simple deeds in the courthouse. That’s like the federal government selling your house in spite of your deed,” Calim said.
However, BIA spokeswoman Nedra Darling said, “It is the eastern Oklahoma region’s understanding that the Eastern Shawnee Tribe owns about 50 acres in Ohio, but the property is not held in trust for the tribe, nor do we have a pending trust application at eastern Oklahoma or at the Miami agency. The tribe does have trust property in eastern Oklahoma already.”
Walker noted, “They say there has not been a formal application, but we have met with officials in Washington, and every time we talk with them, they want trust, trust, trust, but if we filed for the land to go into trust, it would then be regulated by the 1988 Indian Gaming Act, and that stipulates that the land would have had to have been in trust before the act to be eligible for casino gaming.”
The 3,200-member Shawnee tribe operates the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort, Firelake Entertainment & Casino and Black Hawk Casino in Shawnee, Oklahoma.
